Haas F1 Team are aiming for points in Round Seventeen of the FIA Formula 1 season at the Singapore Grand Prix, which returns for the first time in two years.
Haas failed to yield any points in the European triple-header, despite multiple upgrades to the car that came before the summer break. Part of the team’s issue has been a poor qualifying record, and that problem will have to be rectified as the Saturday qualifying session is a crucial part of the Singapore weekend with it being so hard to overtake.
Haas’ Team Principal Guenther Steiner is hoping the team can turn around this bad run of form as he looks for both his drivers to step up.
Despite no points in the last three races, Steiner is hoping that they have more knowledge of the new package that was fitted to the car before the summer break.
“We tested the upgrade in Hungary and then introduced it to both cars after the summer break. We have no comparison between cars anymore, but we can see the increased downforce, the data matching the wind tunnel data, so that’s a success and that’s what we were after.
“How much faster it makes the car is always difficult to understand because you have nothing to compare like-to-like anymore, but we are confident that the upgrade worked and in general it’s just more downforce over the car.
“Now we have to find a good balance for the car, and hopefully we can get some more points out on the tracks that suit our car better than the high-speed tracks like Spa and Monza.”
Steiner also shared his thoughts on returning to Singapore for the first time in two years, following the Coronavirus pandemic.
“They are two races which I think we missed in the covid seasons. Firstly, with Singapore coming up, it’s a night race on a city circuit and it’s a very cool place. Secondly Japan, which in my opinion is one of the best race tracks in the world.
Two completely different reasons why I like them but two good reasons to have them back. I really look forward to going to these race tracks because we haven’t been there the last two years and it’s almost like going back to a new, old race track.”
The Team Principal also touched upon the design process and how the car is progressing ahead of next year.
“The race team and the design team are always in contact. The design team – from the car performance group – is always present in the control room on the weekends and they see exactly what areas we need to work on.
“Then there are meetings between the race team engineers and the team in Italy – Design and Aerodynamics – who are always discussing about what can be done to make the car quicker for next year. “